Day 1 — Welcome to Blogging

Alright, a little about me and why I’m here…

I’m here starting this blog because I am new to Boise and have been a little disappointed in the lack of trail beta around for folks who want to hit up the foothills but don’t know where to go. So, figuring that I’m stuck in the same boat as many other mountain bikers out there, I thought I might blog my experiences and maybe create a little repertoire of information for those that identify.

Now let me start out by saying that anyone who wants to start biking the foothills needs to go out to your local bike shop and buy the Ridge to Rivers (RTR) map. The map will provide the adventurous with all they need to explore the lower foothills, and I don’t intend to compete with them by posting up my own maps and what not. However, I do hope to share some observations and opinions on those trails and post info on some of my rides, which might include the occasional KML file. Likewise, and I haven’t gotten very far into this, I hope to get a lot more riding done up toward Shaffer butte and hopefully shed some light on the opportunities we have up there.

Honestly, I don’t know how this is going to go. I’ve never been any good at keeping a journal, so a blog seems like a dangerous endeavor, but, if all goes well, it sounds like it’ll be a bit of fun.

As for me…I’m 28, male, married, and have been mountain biking all my adult life. I have done most of my mountain biking in Bend OR where I grew up, and have come to ride almost solely XC. I am not a competitor or racer, I bike for the joy of biking. That being said, though, I’m no different than most bikers out there that when I see someone ahead of me that I’m not riding with, I want to pass them. I always want to go faster and harder, but I don’t have any ambitions to race and no misconceptions that I am way stronger than anyone else. I moved to Boise with my wife to work for Canyon County Paramedics as a medic. We have been living in Garden City since January 1st and have really come to enjoy Boise. Previous to the start of this season, I haven’t biked in the foothills at all, so I’m a definite local noob. I’ve only just started getting my mental trail map put together and feel like I can pretty well ride anywhere in the lower foothills and know roughly where I am, however, just two days ago I got lost above Hard Guy (33), so the adventure continues!

Many of you out there will be wondering whether or not you should trust what I say, listen to my advice, or blow me off completely. That is for you to decide. What is to follow will simply be my observations, opinions, and whatever I consider to be good advice. I just recently bought a helmet camera, so I’ll try to get some videos and photos posted up too.

If you’ve got questions, hit me with them. If you’ve got ideas for this blog concept, let me know. I’m all ears. But right now I’m going to hop on my bike and see if I can figure out how this helmet cam works!